Grassroots Advocacy

calling for smarter U.S. policies towards Sudan and genocide-related issues

Introduction

Our organization runs grassroots campaigns in our home state of Tennessee around federal legislation concerning Sudan and U.S. policy concerning genocide and mass atrocity crimes. We also add our expertise and organizational support to public, collaborative letters requesting U.S. government officials to reexamine and change U.S. policy on these issues.

While we recognize that it is ultimately the people of Sudan who are responsible for moving their country forwards, we know that the United States government can play an important role in helping the people of Sudan achieve a free, just, and peaceful society in our lifetime.

Here are the Grassroots Advocacy projects that are currently being led by our movement:

S.1158: The Elie Wiesel Genocide & Atrocities Prevention Act

This new federal legislation ensures that the U.S. government has the tools, training, and funding needed to save lives and promote peace when it becomes apparent that mass atrocity situations are becoming a threat on foreign soil. The Elie Wiesel Act Affirms that atrocity prevention is in the U.S. national interest, calls on the government to pursue a government-wide strategy to prevent atrocities abroad, requires specialized training for Foreign Service Officers who will be deployed to a country experiencing or at risk of mass atrocities, mandates annual reporting to Congress of the Executive Branch's efforts to prevent and respond to mass atrocities, and more. This critical legislation passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which was chaired by now retired Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, on June 26, 2018 and the U.S. Senate on December 12, 2018. It was then passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives in a landslide, bipartisan vote on December 21, 2018, with seven out of nine House Congressional officials from Tennessee voting in favor of the bill. On January 14, 2019, the President of the United States signed the bill into federal law. More than 600 of our Tennessee movement members mobilized in advocacy of this bill.

Letter: U.S. Policy Towards Sudan Must Pivot To Advance Freedom, Justice, and Democracy

Since 2016, the United States government has been on a poorly structured engagement plan with Sudan's genocidal dictatorship. In December 2018, mass protests against the Bashir regime erupted across Sudan. The dictatorship's response has been brutal: dozens of protesters have been killed, hundreds wounded, and possibly thousands arrested and tortured. On January 17, 2019, we joined 92 other organizations and experts in calling on the U.S. government to support the Sudanese people and halt the normalization of bilateral relations with the Bashir regime.

Learn More & Get Involved

Protect The IHRU. News reports suggest that the Trump Administration is considering closing the FBI's International Human Rights Unit (IHRU). This critical team of agents contributes to our national security in a variety of ways, including by helping to prevent the United States from becoming a safe haven for human rights abusers. It also investigates situations in which Americans are either the victims or the perpetrators of atrocities overseas, communicates with diaspora communities to help identify perpetrators, and assists other U.S government agencies and international bodies in their efforts to track down such individuals. If you live in Tennessee, you can help protect the IHRU's work by contacting your elected officials. GET INVOLVED »

About Operation Broken Silence

The people of Sudan are overcoming two of the greatest challenges facing humanity today: war and genocide. Operation Broken Silence is working to accelerate their ability to generate lasting change through storytelling and movement-building, education and emergency relief, and grassroots advocacy programs. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.